Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Smartest One of All?

“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all.” ~ Socrates


When I was a young girl, I wanted to know everything. For one thing I was a bookworm, and I suppose the only thing that saved me from being the perfect incarnation of the typical nerd is the fact that I had no need for glasses.

I loved to learn about everything, and every time I heard of people who held several degrees I looked up to them as if they held the map to the Holy Grail. I wanted to be like them – I wanted to speak foreign languages and learn about different cultures, and even learn about weird chemical reactions that most people found boring. Above all, I think that what fascinated me most was the human mind. Every time I had the chance to run across someone suffering from a psychological ailment or another, I read all I could find about the condition – the more I read, the more I wanted to know.

I was just as absorbed by spirituality, and entertained many a discussions with our family priest, Don Battaglini, the man who probably taught me the most important lesson of all. “Learn with your heart” he told me one day, “not with your mind. If you want to know people, observe them, don’t read about them”.

He went on to explain that many people spend their lives learning facts to strengthen their weak beliefs. Without rational explanations, or something written in black ink on white paper, they feel lost and vulnerable. Truth is that we all know what is right in our hearts.

When we feel we know everything, we indeed know nothing. The part of us that feels fulfilled by sheer human knowledge is limited in its perception and can only function within the boundaries of human nature. We fill our heads with empty facts to fill the voids in our hearts.

True knowledge, of ourselves and others, comes to us when we still our minds and realize we know very little. We feel the need to qualify and quantify everything, even that which cannot be catalogued.

Through our limited, flawed perception we assume that someone that knows a lot is smarter than the next guy, and yet we forget that our world is full of educated fools.

The Dog and The Old Man

“The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.” ~ George Elliot


I would like to share a story that my mother-in-law sent me today. The story is told by a young lady whose father struggles with personal anger after he can no longer work as a lumberjack because of health issues. After suffering a heart attack, he is invited to live with his daughter and her husband, but as days go by, tension begins to rise. The father is resentful of his declining health and lashes out at everyone.

The young woman prays for a resolution, but for months God is silent. Finally, she decides to call several clinics hoping to find some advice. During one of those calls, a friendly lady tells her about an article she has read about people with the same symptoms greatly benefiting from caring for a pet.

She drives to the local shelter to look for a dog, but none seem right for her father. Then, she spots a pointer in the last pen. Years have etched his face and muzzle with shades of gray; his hipbones jut out in lopsided triangles, but his eyes are calm and clear. She asks the attendant about the dog and is told that he just showed up near the shelter two weeks before.

When she gets home, she shows her father the dog she got for him, but he replies angrily that he doesn’t want a pet, and definitely not one so old and frail. Tension rises, and father and daughter face each other down as if preparing to duel. Just then, the dog walks up to the old man, sits in front of him, and raises his paw to touch the man’s leg. Time stands still. The old man continues to look at the dog who just sits there calmly, his paw still raised. He finally kneels down and takes the dog’s paw in his hand. From that day on they are inseparable. Within the course of a few months, all the anger, frustration and tension wash away, as the old man and his dog become more closely connected.

One night, the dog walks into the young lady’s room, whimpering. Considering the fact quite strange, she rushes to her father’s room. She finds him in his bed, his face peacefully relaxed and at ease in his final sleep. The dog raises his paw and touches him for one last time.

It’s not until the dog has passed away - and she reminisces about her father’s last few months - that the young lady realizes something important. She had prayed for her father to find peace, and had thought her prayers had gone unanswered. Yet they hadn’t. The girl on the phone and the dog were angels she hadn’t recognized. At the time, everything had seemed coincidental but none of it was – the woman, the article, and the dog that had mysteriously appeared at the shelter out of nowhere.

Prayers often seem to go unanswered because they don’t manifest as we imagined. We expect a result which will pacify our wants, because we are not aware of our true needs. Sometimes the path to our greater good is an uncharted one, yet if we follow it with faith it will lead us where we need to go.

The King and The Pawn

“At the end of the game, the King and the Pawn always go back in the same box.” ~Author unknown


I rarely run into people who shamelessly flaunt their status. Yesterday was one of those rare occasions. I had gone to the grocery store and ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in quite a while. She introduced me to her new boyfriend, and we decided to go have a cup of coffee after shopping, just to catch up a little.

We had barely sat down, when the boyfriend – we will call him Alan – expressed his disbelief that someone coming from Italy would not be wearing clothes from an Italian designer. After all, he said, Italy is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and he thought all Italians only wore Armani and Gucci.

I took a sip of my coffee as I studied him for a minute – now that he had directed my attention to his lack of depth, I noticed that what he wore was probably worth half my wardrobe.

Since I wasn’t about to justify the fact that I don’t dress up for a trip at the grocery store on a rainy day, I simply responded that I have better things to do with my money than spend hundred of dollars in something I consider useless. To which he replied: “What could be more important than your own image?”

He spent the rest of the time bragging about all his bikes, cars and boat, which he only uses once a year but couldn’t imagine not having. He was so eager to tell me about all his possessions that I began to wonder what was missing in his life.

When he left to go use the restroom, my friend apologized for his behavior, and informed me that his family had always written him off as the black sheep. Since his father often told him he would not amount to anything in life, Alan had consciously strived to prove him wrong. Subconsciously, he had tried to get his father to love him.

Suddenly, I felt a wave of compassion for him – a wounded little boy who had grown to believe he could be accepted only if he had the nicest toys.

By the time he came back, I had almost finished my coffee, and had to get home. I exchanged phone numbers with my friend and I said my goodbyes. Before leaving I hugged them both, and said a small blessing for the boyfriend. I wished for him to see that his belongings could not bring him the love he sought, and that no matter how high he got on the ladder of life, he could not take his material achievements with him when he will leave this world.

I watched him as I walked away - A desperate man glowing in his illusion of wealth; a Pawn in King’s attire who hoped to win the game.